Love's Ball and Chain
by golfer
Summary: The smashers have been captured by Tabuu as revenge for his defeat in the Great Subspace War.  His plan may break because love is in the dusty air.  Welcome to smash mansion, maximum security prison.  For PitFTW's and some other dude's V-day contest.


"This isn't a mansion! You lied to me!"

"My friend...anybody that says this is a mansion has lied to you. They're cocky little liars that took you for a fool, Meta Knight. Welcome to reality!"

Meta Knight tried to shake his arms free of the iron grip of the iron primids. There stood Tabuu with a wide smirk upon his face, staring down at the small knight from behind a massive desk. Watching him struggle through his dark, piercing eyes, Tabuu put his feet up on the desk, revealing to Meta Knight the horrifying realization that Tabuu had six toes missing; they had been cut off. Meta Knight felt a small wave of guilt; had it been his own blade that crippled the being? A quick glance at Tabuu's evil face, however, shut down these thoughts of sympathy.

Meta Knight's eyes darted around the dark room where he was. To his left was a black wall with a few red dots lazily painted on it. To his right lied a large ax, proudly displayed over a bear cub's head, which was mantled to the wall.

"Meta Knight, Meta Knight, Meta Knight..." Tabuu's rough, sinister voice forced Meta Knight to focus on him. "You see, it's not so bad..." Meta Knight's eyes were pointed at Tabuu in a fierce glare. "My friend, you can do whatever you wish. Hell, you can spit, piss, eat, drink, whenever you wish. However, you must fight other prisoners at my command... ratings, you know. Perhaps some of the smashers...your comrades...the first time you people attacked me, you looked so peaceful together..." Tabuu stopped for a moment as Meta Knight stayed silent. He had captured other smashers? The memory was faint of the smashers, but he remembered who each of them was. Tabuu continued his lecture.

"I make money which I use to, in turn, catch more of you annoying rodents and bring here for my entertainment." Meta Knight was confused, and again he wiggled his arms in an attempt to get free, but the machine-like primids wouldn't budge. He was stuck the moment they caught him on Popstar. "No love, either. No relationships. Remember, you guys have to fight at will, so I can't have conflict of interest." Meta Knight nodded a bit; he rarely felt any kind of love, so it wouldn't be a worry. After Master Hand died, the smashers dispersed, but Meta Knight remembered many of them; he didn't love any of them, and really, he didn't even like many of them.

"I'm innocent..." Meta Knight attempted to say, but Tabuu put a hand in between him and Meta Knight, sending a sharp signal that Tabuu wouldn't hear of it.

"Guards...please escort him to the back...remember...escapees are shot..." Tabuu warned with a smile. The two primids saluted to their leader before effortlessly dragging Meta Knight out the door. Meta Knight tried to drag his feet, but these primids didn't seem to even be alive; they seemed like lifeless robots, carelessly but obediently obeying their master.

"TABUU!" Meta Knight screamed, but Tabuu wasn't listening to Meta Knight's struggles. Tabuu merely gazed upon the animal mounted on his wall; it filled him with joy each time he looked at it, similar to the way he executed random prisoners, whether by hanging, shooting, or other means.

Meta Knight grunted as he was tossed inside. He looked around as he got up and dusted the red dust off him. The sun was powerful as it beat down upon his blue, shiny skin. The air around him made him want to gasp; everything was tinted red because of the red dirt. He quietly surveyed the walls around him; nothing but gray, and perhaps a hundred feet tall. Meta Knight couldn't see the top of the walls. Squinting, however, and shielding his eyes from the painful sun, he saw the razor wire which adorned the top of the wall like jewelry accessorizing a woman.

Meta Knight glimpsed at the primids which stood on the four corners of the top of the walls. They seemed like little dots resting against the blue and red sky.

More significant than any of that, however, was the other prisoners.

Meta Knight looked around; the figures scattered all around the walled facility stopped to look at this newcomer. Meta Knight fell to his knees in utter shock. His own heartbeat was the loudest thing in the prison, despite the occasional sound of an idle prisoner hitting a rock with a pickax.

"Meta Knight?" Mario asked, stepping closer as everybody remained silent. Meta Knight silently counted to himself how many smashers were really there. He counted thirty-four. One was missing, but he couldn't place his thoughts on who it was.

"We're in it deep..." Ike muttered. Meta Knight remembered Ike; the man who could fight twenty primids at once in the Great War against Tabuu. There was no doubt that Tabuu wanted revenge for it; every smasher but one was there.

He'd been defeated and hadn't even known.


End file.
